(It is a late shift, we are closing in an hour, and I am making drinks while one of my coworkers is on register. One of our regulars comes up; most of our regulars are nice but this one always has a sour look on her face and is known for being difficult.) 

Coworker: “Hello! Wha–“

Customer: *cuts right to it* “Ultra-caramel frappe with extra milk, half ice, light ice, light whipped cream, and extra caramel drizzle.”

(I hear the order and start making the drink right away. Before she even finishes paying, she screams.)

Customer: “THAT’S TOO MUCH MILK!”

Coworker: “Would you like her to pour some out or start over?”

Customer: *gives blank angry state and says nothing*

(Before she can ask again…)

Me: *in a polite sweet voice* “I’m sorry, I will start over.”

(The regular finishes paying and waits at the pickup area. I show her the milk amount before I make the rest of the drink; I pour just over the standard amount and ask her if that is all right. She continues to stare angrily but refuses to say if it isn’t, so I continue with the drink. I make it with her specifications and put it on the counter for her.)

Me: “Here you go!”

Customer: *twists the drink* “This isn’t right.”

Me: “I am sorry, I will be happy to fix it. What is wrong?”

Customer: *hissing* “This isn’t how I usually get it.”

Me: “I’m sorry. I can fix it if I know what’s wrong.”

Customer: *snaps* “Just give me a refund.”

(I am fed up. There is a line of customers and I have to make a ton of drinks because this conversation is taking way too long.)

Me: “Okay, then, you can wait in line and [Coworker] will give you a refund.”

(She huffed off and straight-up cut in line. The people behind were shocked. My coworker asked if she should give her the refund and I told her to just do it and get her out of here. The next week, she came in and I found out the only difference between what I made and how she usually drinks her frappuccino is that I put the extra caramel drizzle she ordered on top and she likes it in the cup!)

(In high school, I work evening shifts as a cashier at a popular fast food chain. When there are no customers in the lobby, I also do custodial work. On this particular evening, business is very slow, so I decide to sweep behind the counter. There is a catchy song playing on the speakers, and I become so deeply absorbed in my sweeping and humming that I don’t notice a young couple entering the lobby.)

Customer: “EXCUSE ME!”

(I get startled and drop my broom. I would be the first to admit that I probably looked pretty silly.)

Me: “Oh, I’m sorry; I didn’t see you come in! Just a second.”

(I pick up the broom and lean it against the counter, but it immediately slides down and hits the ground with a loud clattering sound. I wince and decide to let it go for now.)

Me: “Sorry about that! Welcome to [Fast Food Chain]; may I take your order?”

(The woman has been staring at me this whole time. Now she smiles in an odd way I can’t quite interpret.)

Customer: “It’s okay, honey, don’t worry!” 

(She gives her order in an exaggeratedly loud, slow voice, and then steps back from the counter to give the young man a turn. Before he orders, she says to him in a loud stage whisper:)

Customer: “Be nice to her; I think she’s ‘special’!”

(I’m a driver for a particular rideshare company. I have a passenger in my car who’s been quiet, for the most part, until I approach an intersection where I’m to turn right. The light is red and there’s a blind corner, meaning I can’t see what’s approaching from the left until it’s right in front of me. For this reason, I’m waiting for the light to turn green before I make the turn. I mean, duh.)

Passenger: “Uh, I don’t see a ‘no right turns on red’ sign here.”

(I’m about to say something like, “Excuse me?” when all of a sudden a wave of cars comes zooming along from the left. There was no warning. If I’d been in the intersection they definitely would have hit me.)

Me: “Yeah, as you can see, the corner’s blind.”

(Later on, she berated me for pulling over on the right side of the street to let her out instead of making an illegal — and dangerous — U-turn. Sadly, she’s not even the first passenger I’ve had who seems to think I’m immune to the laws of physics and traffic. One star for her.)

(This happens shortly before I put in my two-week notice. I’m a closing manager, and it’s felt like the store manager has had it out for me for a long time. Friday nights, our busiest night, I’m stuck with only one employee from 8:00 pm until we close at 2:00 am. I’ve complained about this many times after she complained about my speed of service. Eventually, she gave me someone else until 11:00, except he’s never been trained and slows things even more. Most of the orders this late are small items off the value menu, and I’ve been running $200 hours since 9:00 pm. I agree that times were ridiculous, often reaching twenty minutes. My cashier calls for me over our headsets, telling me the customer at the windows is upset, so I go over to help.)

Me: *genuinely hoping to help the customer* “I was told that you have a problem?”

Customer #1: “Yes, I’ve been waiting for half an hour for my order!”

(We have a monitor next to the window that shows how long customers have been there.)

Me: “I apologize for the wait—”

Customer #1: “You bet you are! I’m calling corporate!”

(At this point, I don’t care about professionalism. I’m quitting soon and it’s been a rough night.)

Me: “My timer says it’s only been seven minutes since you pulled up. Your order is being made fresh right now.”

Customer #1: “It had better be fresh!”

(She only ordered a ten-piece nugget. It takes about three minutes to cook, and of course, this makes her angrier.)

Me: “Sorry again about the wait. It won’t be much longer.”

Customer #1: “It had better be fresh.”

Me: “I just told you it will be; that’s why you’re still waiting.”

(When the nuggets are almost done cooking, I wash my hands, put on gloves, and bag the nuggets myself. I give her a little extra sauce to try to make her content.)

Customer #1: “These aren’t hot; I waited for them to be cooked fresh!”

Me: “They’re hot. I pulled them out of the fryer myself. They literally cannot be any fresher; you’ll burn your mouth if you eat them right now.”

Customer #1: “No, they’re cold. You made me wait this long for cold nuggets.”

(I’m getting really frustrated at this point, but I finish the transaction. She knocks on the window to get my attention again.)

Customer #1: “I want these for free. Give me back my money.”

Me: “What?”

Customer #1: “I said I want these for free! And give me a milkshake for my trouble!”

Me: “No. I’m not even allowed to give out shakes for free. And you’re keeping either your nuggets or your money.”

Customer #1: “You made me wait for so long for cold nuggets!”

(At this point, she’s been in my drive-thru for close to twenty minutes. I’m more than annoyed with her and don’t want to let her win. If she was civil about it, I would have thrown in a value fry or charged her for a ten-piece.)

Me: “Look, I’m not giving you anything for your wait. You could have driven off at any time; it’s not our fault you decided to wait here for so long. We’re right next to another fast food place that is actually staffed and could have gotten your nuggets much sooner.”

(I close the window and lock it before she can say anything else. She honks and yells at us for a few minutes after that, until she finally drives off. To make things worse, the next customer wasn’t much better.)

Customer #2: “What is taking so long? I’ve been waiting for a long time!”

Me: “I’m really sorry about the wait. We’ve been really backed up and the customer ahead of you wasn’t happy about waiting for her order to be fresh. Your order is fresh, too. It just finished cooking.”

(Usually, people are happy to hear their food is fresh and ready for them when they pull up. Not this guy.)

Customer #2: “I want my entire order for free!”

(It’s an order close to $20.)

Me: “You know what? You won’t be paying anything tonight. You have a good night.”

(I locked my window again. Everyone behind him had pulled off, much to my relief. It was after 11:00 pm by then, so it was just me and my cashier. It was really petty of me, but I took over order taking and told customers we were unable to take any orders because equipment was malfunctioning, so we could catch up on closing procedures so we could hopefully get out somewhat close to on time.)

Friday Morning: “Congratulations, you passed the phone interview. You start on Monday!”

Friday Afternoon: “No, wait, we want to have another phone interview on Monday, instead.”

Monday Morning: “Congrats, you passed the second phone interview. We want you for an in-person interview tomorrow. We’ll phone you by this afternoon with a time to come in tomorrow.”

Monday Afternoon: *nothing*

Tuesday: *nothing*

Wednesday Morning: “Hi, can you come in for an in-person interview in two hours?”

Wednesday Noon: “Congratulations, you passed the in-person interview. You start tomorrow.”

Wednesday Afternoon: “Sorry, we caught up on our backlog of work and don’t need you anymore. But if we do need you, would you be willing to be on call?”